Lehi (prophet)

Lehi (died 588 BC) was a Mormon prophet who lived in Jerusalem during the reign of King Zedekiah. In 589 BC, he led his family to the "promised land" in the Americas after God told him about the imminent destruction of Jerusalem. Lehi died in the Americas, and his sons Nephi and Laman would go on to become the progenitors of their own tribes.

Biography
Lehi was a Jew of the tribe of Manasseh, and he became a wealthy resident of Jerusalem during the reign of King Zedekiah. Lehi was a devout Jew, and he read of his family's history and the history of the Jews, both of which were inscribed on golden plates. He started a family with his wife Sariah, having several children; by 600 BC, he had four sons: Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. That year, he had a vision from God in the form of a pillar of fire, and he read a book of prophecy and was warned of Jerusalem's imminent destruction. Lehi took his family into the wilderness, despite the protests of his rebellious sons Laman and Lemuel, and they abandoned their riches back in Jerusalem. Lehi's group proceeded down the Arabian Peninsula until they reached Nahom in present-day Yemen, and the group later headed to a fertile coastal region in what is now Oman, where Nephi was instructed to build a ship with the purpose of sailing across the sea to the "Promised Land" in the Americas. Lehi's teachings to his children and posterity were recorded by Nephi on golden plates, with Lehi's story being told in First Nephi and the first four chapters of Second Nephi. Lehi died in Central America in 588 BC, and his children went on to form the Lamanites and Nephites, the principal ancestors of the Native Americans.